Google and Microsoft's Bing have voluntarily signed on to an initiative in Britain aimed at "reducing the availability of infringing content accessed through online search."

The agreed in the UK between representatives of rights holders and major search engines.

The collaboration between the search engine giants and the representatives of rights holders in the U.K. is aimed at demoting links to websites that are dedicated to infringing content for consumers in the UK.

A core aim is to ensure that users who are looking for legitimate content are much less likely to get presented with links to infringing content. There will also be collaboration to improve autocomplete suggestions which can lead users to infringing search results.

This agreement will run in parallel with existing anti-piracy measures aimed at reducing online infringement. These include court ordered site blocking, work with brands to reducing advertising on illegal sites and the "Get it Right from a Genuine Site" consumer education campaign.